


i didn't know what i was thinking, but i wasn't thinking straight

by poeticaid



Series: The Reading of a Lifetime [2]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: (i guess), Canon Compliant, Characters reading the book, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Empathy, Gen, Light Angst, Minor Character Death, Minor Violence, Multiple Personalities, Neptune's not chill, basically the gods think about too much, he just prefers to ignore it, is it still unrequited love if your other self banged the girl you love?, unlike Minerva
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-09
Updated: 2019-02-09
Packaged: 2019-10-24 22:43:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 2,430
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17713052
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/poeticaid/pseuds/poeticaid
Summary: The Roman gods love to think, as their Greek counterparts read the tale of the mortal Perseus Jackson.They then realize he was the one who holds them all together.[one chapter each god.]





	1. Jupiter.

**Author's Note:**

> and now time for... ROMAN GOD ANGST!!!

As if Jupiter was like Zeus himself.

He was more disciplined, more self-controlled, more of a leader than that immortal disaster. Sure, he is unfaithful from time to time, and Juno wrecks havoc across the seas once he fathers another child.

As Zeus, he had fathered Thalia Grace with that 80’s starlet Beryl Grace, who explicitly had a mental breakdown after Zeus abandons her because she can’t handle breakups real well. And her most brilliant idea, was to imagine Zeus, but as Jupiter this time.

To say that Jupiter was not amused by this mortal his Greek counterpart had an affair with is not true. He sees why Zeus became attracted to this woman, and not just because Beryl was pretty; she used to be so loving and endearing, which in turn was gone once she started demanding from him more presents, and, one of the most controversial conditions in his lifetime, make _her_ immortal.

It was all ready bad enough that Thalia Grace was born to her, but she had also captivated Jupiter’s heart.

He inclines his head towards Jason Grace’s direction. He had few regrets. Most of them had faded a lifetime away, but Jason Grace.

It was the first time he felt regret in centuries, as he made Beryl name her son Jason, after Hera/Juno’s favorite mortal hero, and sold his life to his own wife.

He loved Thalia and Jason so much, but splitting them up has to be done, as Juno wants him to grow up away from his family, into the loving hands of the legion. And all he did was sit back and watch as Thalia and Jason have a hasty reunion.

He feels as if it was too late to rekindle the relationship they were supposed to have, as brother and sister. He would have had to break them up, lest they fight. And protect them from his wife’s wrath if she felt as if they were wasting her time.


	2. Neptune.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> he prefers to ignore it.

Neptune was insulted. Romans had insulted his name, his power, everything about him. He was labelled as a destructive sea god, who would waste no time to destroy Camp Jupiter. And it was even named after his younger brother! Who does that? He chooses to spend time in the sea, away from the Romans who had never wanted him. It was incredibly ironic. Poseidon was loved by the Greeks, and Neptune was feared by the Romans.

Was this how Hades felt?

Neptune thought about doing what Minerva had done; ask his Greek children to storm Camp Jupiter and destroy his shrines. He was better off faded away into the background, rather than be shunned by Romans. But he thought about his Roman children.

They had always been the blame of the many earthquakes that hit camp, and were promptly exiled because of such a disaster. Neptune loved his children, but unlike Poseidon, he was not a good enough father. That goes to Jupiter and Mercury, ironically.

So, he did not try to destroy the Roman camp using his Greek children, while Minerva tries to do just that. And who can blame her? She had the biggest insult from all the gods, while Neptune was just shunted to the background because Romans weren’t necessarily fond of the seas. They stole the Athena Parthenos, _and_ stripped her of her title as a goddess of war.

Disrespectful, Neptune had thought.

It was a hundred years since the fall of the Western Roman Empire, and the Byzantines flourished. They were always more Greek, which was why they decided to put Camp Half-Blood in the east and Camp Jupiter in the west. He thought it was a bad idea to put their camps near each other, but no one listened.

The Civil War of 1861 _finally_ made them realize their mistakes and destroyed any ounce of the campers’ memories possible and put them in different locations, but still in the east and west. The Romans offered him moldy food and did not pray to him.

But simply, he chose to ignore their continuing disrespect and lie back in the back of his mind.

The last child Neptune had was Shen Lun, and oh, he was proud of him.

And he was accused of the 1906 earthquake in San Francisco, and promptly exiled from camp. He wished he could guide his son to Camp Half-Blood, but he ignores that feeling as he watches his son marry and have children without once praying to his father.

Neptune stopped having children after that, a personal vow he will never compromise. Poseidon, on the other hand, was forced to not have children by sealing an oath. He was _ordered_ to never do so.

But he broke the oath, and sired a child named Perseus Jackson.

Neptune hated that child, for he looked a lot like Poseidon. Shen Lun nor any of his children resembled him. And Perseus should not have been born, a wrongdoing. Was a promise to Poseidon meant to be broken? And to swear on the River Styx as well!

And now they were reading about him in the throne room.


	3. Ceres.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> history repeats itself.

Ceres was not elated when she finds out that she would have to read about a _Greek_ demigod. All the Roman gods sit idly in their counterpart’s heads, listening to the book being read out to them.

A son of Poseidon was as powerful as a son of Neptune, but is this child more powerful? Was her first thought. She plays with her hair, trying to placate why Poseidon would dare break an oath. Demeter was of course, mad at her brother for breaking the oath. But Zeus had done it before as well. Then as Jupiter.

She only had a handful of children each century, and she wishes that they will be able to visit Mount Olympus; a luxury they should have. But Minerva and Neptune were _too_ angry at the Romans for the disrespect they get. Ceres was one of the goddesses who obviously objects, and that Romans should also see Olympus as well.

It was one of the issues in the civil war. How and why Greeks get to see Olympus and Romans don’t.

Her and Demeter’s children never had any differences, other than that Ceres’ children were more well-learned about the art of war, while Demeter’s were just some gardeners who has to fight once provoked. Greeks value individuality, Romans don’t.

Demeter has an obsession with cereal, Ceres? She was not that much of a mother, even to her Proserpine. And she gets kidnapped by Pluto, like how Hades kidnapped her.

History repeats itself, over and over.

The last straw was during the Civil War of 1861.

Ceres looks over through the battlefield, her form flickering from her to Demeter, as she gazes at the corpses, both Roman and Greek. She looks to see her children, fighting against _her_ children, her own children were fighting each other, trying to kill one another-

A sob escapes her throat as they were all killed by an explosion from the sky.

She had ultimately decided it was for the best, that Romans and Greeks were to be separated, after she and Demeter, forms flickering, cried for hours, with only Vesta/Hestia to comfort her.

And the Romans and Greeks were in the throne room, mixed together, tension high in the air.


	4. Apollo.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> he is different from Phoebus Apollo.

Some say that Apollo had not changed once he migrated from Roman to Greek.

The truth is, he did.

Apollo, Phoebus Apollo, mainly cared about something that pleasures him, something that makes him feel as if his immortal life wasn’t already in shambles.

_He was pathetic_ , Apollo bitterly thinks to himself as he watches from his point of view-Phoebus’- while reading about a Greek demigod. Apollo was not an attention seeker, and would rather spend time flying his sun chariot into the sky, than mingling with mortals.

It is not fair that Phoebus Apollo loved ruining a mortal’s life by making them fall in love with them, and leaving when they were pregnant.

It’s not that Apollo _didn’t_ do that, he did, but he only has children with legacies in New Rome, if they ever catch his attention. But not _his_ legacies, no. He only mingles with mortals if they were worthy enough to catch the attention of a god. Especially if they were Roman gods.

Now, he doesn’t dislike _any_ of his legacies, no, but Octavian is someone he is not fond of. He gives him prophecies, like the Oracle back in Camp Half-Blood.

But the problem with Phoebus Apollo was that he was more egotistic. He was the one who listens to Octavian’s compliments, and Apollo is shameful of such actions. He was a prideful god, but he does not have an ego the size of Phoebus Apollo. Octavian has a way with words.

Apollo looks at his Greek children, who all had some of his features: blonde hair, bright smiles, blue or amber eyes. Because the gods’ physical mortal forms have to have different colors and not just one shade of whatever divine colors they have.

Apollo just sighs and decides to listen to his Greek sister as she starts to read the third chapter. Only Artemis and Diana have minor differences, along with Aphrodite and Venus, and he and Phoebus Apollo sometimes envy them.

Apollo and he are also the god of knowledge, similar to Athena and Minerva, but Phoebus would rather be ignorant of how everything is, frolick through the seas of many mortals, and let them die in freak accidents.

Apollo remembered how Phoebus’ myths got intertwined with his; and he gets to feel his Greek counterpart’s pain once faced with Daphne and Hyacinthus again, along with Cassandra.

They both weep for their loss.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> do you know how hard it is to not get confused by their names?


	5. Mercury.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> he's in love with the same woman _he_ fell in love with.

Mercury scours the throne room to look for the son of Hermes; Luke Castellan, was it? That nuisance of Hermes had been interrupting the reading for two chapters, and promptly, he does not get to why Hermes still loves him, and labels him as his favorite son.

Is it even possible, that a father could love a child who _hates_ him? Mercury and Hermes had many conversations about Luke, and it ends all the same. Hermes still labels him as his favorite son.

Why? Is always the question at the back of Mercury’s mind. The child had done nothing but disrespect the gods, and he felt uncomfortable with his father. He’s seen May Castellan’s madness, and though it doesn’t hurt him the way it does to Hermes, he was still heartbroken over the fact that this boy-Luke- is already on the path towards his fate.

The gods are not allowed to meddle with human’s fates, but he has a good feeling to what Luke’s fate is, and it hurts him so much that whenever he looks at Luke through Hermes’ eyes he feels a certain pang in his chest.

 _No matter_ , he thinks, trying to compose himself. _He is not_ my _child after all_.

He could feel Hermes crying to his other spawn-what was his name? Connor Stoll?- during break time, and it allegedly made him feel his feelings. Greek and Roman counterparts always had the migraines, the multiple personality disorders, but most of all, empathy links, like satyrs and other beings.

Mercury was… less of a trickster, and more of a planner, like Apollo. They were a substitute for poor Minerva, as she was put into the background, along with Neptune, who looks as if he didn’t mind the whole ordeal. Mercury’s tricks were more malevolent and more of a war trick-Hermes just loves to go spend his time stealing Phoebus’ cattle and jesting and pranking people.

Those were minor affairs, and Hermes gets aroused by-what? A man or woman who dares to steal his wallet while going to bars or filthy one-night-stands?

May Castellan was not like his previous lovers. Sure, she was mischievous and loves to have fun, but she had the air of difference surrounding her from the past lovers Hermes had. Mercury had found himself falling in love with the woman as well, but she was _his_. He wished that May had imagined Hermes as Mercury, and he would have swooped down and have a child with her.

But no, her child had to be Greek.

And she had to go offer to become the Oracle, and she went mad.

Mercury never got to know her better when she constantly shouts loud and about her child’s fate, and Hermes watches from the background.


	6. Bacchus.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> tons of sarcasm and hurt to comment.

Bacchus was milder than Dionysus, in terms of partying. At least he was not confined in that summer camp, but he felt jealous that Dionysus can interact with his children, and he cannot even utter a word to his only demigod child of the century.

He understands why Dionysus hates demigods perfectly. But it was not fair taking it out on a son of Poseidon because he reminds him of Theseus too much. Bacchus can feel concern radiating off Dionysus once he was face-to-face with one of his sons Pollux.

Bacchus never understood why Dionysus would prefer to get blackout drunk, _’sticking it to the man (yo)’_ *, and party like it was the end of the world. His Roman counterpart likes to party, yes, but only if the Romans did something celebratory. Otherwise, he would just grow grapes in his farm, along with Ceres.

He’s also in love with Diet Pepsi, something that differentiated him and Dionysus. He feels bad that his Greek form could never taste wine until hundred years’ time has passed. And strawberries? Zeus is quite petty!

The Fates had told the gods that there were two wars coming in the near future, and they had sent these demigods into the past, who looked tired, drained, and exhausted. He presumes that they had all ready fought in that first major war, and it hurt him and Dionysus that many were broken. As if he had not seen those faces before.

The first and last time he and Dionysus got into a fight was a long time ago, ever since the Civil War erupted. Dionysus’ daughter was killed by one of his sons, and they fought over it, until they could hurt no more, and Dionysus’ screams clouded Bacchus’ mind, making him lose his physical form, until it ripples to that of Dionysus’, who had disintegrated a horde of nymphs who were looking at him, since he was in his divine form.

They never crossed each other again after that.

And, honestly, what is the point of angering someone if you’d just get migraines yourself?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> * THAT, was an Overly Sarcastic Productions reference.


End file.
